Date: Sat, 8 Oct 1994 21:05:40 -0400
From: Claudio Salvucci
Subject: Phila. dialect
I was wondering if anyone on the list could help me find material
(by that I mean books, journals, articles, etc.) on dialect speech in the
Delaware Valley / SE Pennsylvania area, especially urban Philadelphia.
Linguistics is more a hobby than a profession, and as such I
am completely in the dark about where to look, and what research has
been done in this area. I have consulted "The Pronunciation of English
in the Atlantic States", but the examples of "typically Philadelphian"
speech don't correlate with my own personal experience of growing up
there. Perhaps the time frame (data collected around 1940) and the
social context (educated, "well-to-do") have something to do with this.
I remember learning about vowel-raising in college, but never
learned where this data came from. Any information would be greatly
appreciated, as the only treatments I have been able to find come from
the popular press, and as such, are of limited value. Thanks in advance
and I apologize for the length of this posting.
Claudio R. Salvucci
csalvucci[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]delphi.com